*3.5

I read this as an arc - so I'm gonna go into the details now. I do think that this is really similar to Agatha Christe with a twist. I was reading this and immediately thought of Witness of the Prosecution, her play. I think that the characters could've definitely been better developed, since for example, there was a woman who was a wife to this man, and she was a doctor and that seemed to be her only personality. However, the plot does add up for it and take you on an adventure. I personally found it interesting, especially the links to Greek mythology is what really interested me. I would definitely give it a go, especially to anyone that likes Agatha Christe.

TW: Suicide

It's not just the house of the title that is a labyrinth in this excellent book,the whole story is twist after twist after twist........and it's great fun.

Legendary author Miyagaki Yotaro invites 4 of his proteges to his home to celebrate his birthday. Also invited are a couple of reviewers,one with his pregnant wife and super-sleuth Shimada Kiyoshi, who readers of the previous "Bizarre Life Mysteries" will know very well.
It soon becomes apparent that the dying Miyagaki has something special planned for his guests,something potentially life-changing . It certainly does that but not in the way any of them expect.

This is a very clever clever book that reads like homage to "Golden Age" detective stories, not least those from Japan, and many of the old masters are mentioned. My favourite part of the book is that when the reader thinks the story is "done and dusted" ,that proves to be very far from the case with plenty more surprises to come.
My only minor disappointment was that there was a clue that I'd guess most avid readers of this kind of book would see straight away but a houseful of successful crime writers and one super sleuth amongst others failed to see what was literally in front of their face.
Another great book in a very entertaining series.

The Labyrinth House Murders is without a doubt my favourite book in the Yukito Ayatsuji's House Murders series. The "book within a book" concept is brilliant, and the fast-paced, twisty murder plot with thrilling murder scenes kept me hooked from start to finish. The references to Greek mythology were a delightful touch, adding a lot of depth and intrigue.
The ending was very satisfying, wrapping everything up wonderfully! I did have some reservations regarding a specific detail involving the murderer's blood, but it’s a minor issue in what was otherwise a flawless story.

Wow! I loved it. Plot twist after plot twist. This one is definitely my favorite of the three published in this House series. This one is much more complex and full of very satisfying twists and turns throughout. I wonder if it was more guessable for someone who has a knowledge of Japanese life and culture as there are certain key aspects of the mystery which will be impossible for a non-Japabese reader to think of as clues. Although, I dare say that they are so skilfully hidden that they will either way not be easynto spot.

I was a little unconvinced with the explanation of the blood though. Felt a little forced though and made me wonder if it was actually possible. 4.5 stars otherwise.

Looking forward to more from the author. Thank you Pushkin Press for bringing so many wonderful Japanese mystery novels in translation. Thanks to the publisher, the writer, the translator and Netgalley for the e-copy.

I’ve seen the first two books of this series in the bookstore and have always been curious about them (largely due to the cool cover art). While I’m glad I gave it a try, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I’d hoped.

<b>What worked for me:</b>
👍 Cover art is really eye-catching (although I did notice they missed a trick not designing it along the same lines as the book-in-the-book was described as!)
👍 The maps of the labyrinth were a nice touch. Appreciated cast list but it was difficult to access on the ARC PDF format (and while I found the real names vs author names vs fake book names confusing as heck, I appreciated learning about why author names were/are used on the Japanese literary scene)

<b>What I wasn’t so keen on:</b>
👎 I’m really noticing that I don’t enjoy reading about authors/writers - I find them tedious, pompous, and exhausting to spend time with.
👎 The book-within-a-book isn’t a style I enjoy. This was four books in a book in a book!
👎 Plot is predictable and has been done to death. Given the dated references, I assumed this book is a few decades old and looked it up: it was first published in 1988! It's older than me! In 1988, it might have been a banger; but, in 2024, I’ve read this plot too many times. I’m also running out of steam with Greek myths.
👎 I was going to give this three stars but the bull head “gotcha” is so r/menwritingwomen bad, I just… can’t. That’s <I>really</I> not how women work.
👎 This isn't a 'fair play' mystery and while I had solved most of it (again, a plot that's been done to death), there was at least one thing that the reader is in the dark about for the whole book; for me, this made the ending feel a bit cheap.
👎 Writing style was straightforward and so dry! The ending was all insultingly overexplained, leaving nothing to nuance of imagination. It was like reading a report, not something designed to entertain.

This might have just been a bit of a reader/book mismatch: perhaps individual mileage may vary depending on how tired of some of these tropes you are.

I’m appreciative of Pushkin Press for making this available on NetGalley, thanks for letting me give this a whirl.